Mobility: Autonomy, integration and the end of the pilot era

Autonomous driving has long been described as “just around the corner.” As we look ahead from 2026, what does meaningful progress on autonomy look like, and where do you think expectations still need recalibrating?

Meaningful progress on autonomy today is less about technological readiness and more about identifying use cases where automation genuinely adds value. Autonomous driving is not a single solution, but a set of context-specific applications within existing transport systems.

The more pressing challenges sit at the operational, organisational, legal, and regulatory levels.

Interesting! Public acceptance has been a central theme in your research to date. Is it still relevant?

Acceptance is a topic that got a lot of attention in the past years. It remains important, but it is often misunderstood. People do not reject new technologies because they are new; they reject services that do not fit into their daily routines or fail to deliver reliable benefits.

Think about how public transport is changing. Many people are used to fixed routes, timetables, and predictable stops. But a daily commute in the future will likely involve different behaviours, such as booking a service via an app, requesting a ride rather than waiting at a stop, or sharing a vehicle with other passengers.

So, acceptance is fundamentally about behavioural change and wider transformation within mobility systems and society. It is also closely linked to sustainability. Even if climate issues fluctuate in public debate, the need to reduce car dependency remains clear, not only for environmental reasons but also due to the economic and social costs of individual motorised transport.

Let’s jump five years into the future! What new opportunities do you believe could open for cities and transport operators if they approach mobility transformation in a more integrated and strategic way?

If cities and transport operators move from smaller, standalone services towards more integrated, large-scale deployments, the biggest opportunity lies in system-level optimisation. Rather than focusing on individual technologies or services, the emphasis shifts to how the overall mobility system functions, how different modes complement each other, and how resources can be used more efficiently.

Looking five years ahead, we are likely to see new mobility technologies operating at much greater scale. Today, many cities are still working with pilot projects or small fleets, such as autonomous shuttles or limited on-demand services in specific neighbourhoods. In the future, these solutions are far more likely to be fully integrated into public transport networks and operate as a normal part of everyday mobility.

Achieving this will require significant organisational, operational, and regulatory change. Transport operators will need to address questions around roles and responsibilities, for example whether new services are operated in-house or delivered through private providers. Issues such as data ownership, fleet management, depots, and system integration will become central. In addition, regulatory and political framework will likely be adapted to make room for more hybrid models and new forms of public private partnerships.

For cities or regions that prepare for this shift, the next five years offer an opportunity to move beyond incremental change and towards mobility systems that are more resilient, efficient, and better aligned with how people actually travel.